Wombat gets hip replacement surgery from Australian doctors

“I personally haven’t seen a hip issue in a wombat like this before,” Jenny McLellan, a veterinarian at the Adelaide Zoo, said in a video posted to YouTube by ITN Productions.

Cue up your best joke about wombats in Australia getting better health care than most people around the world.

Wanda the wombat is part of the Adelaide Conservation Ark program. The “Wombat Wranglers” team at the zoo seeks to provide researchers with a better understanding of the species, which spends the majority of the day living underground.

Wanda’s physical condition deteriorated recently, forcing her to rely on one leg for movement. This is reportedly the first time a hip replacement surgery has been performed on an animal like this.

“In a dog and a cat, it’s pretty easy to do,” said specialist surgeon Scott Rose who helped perform the procedure. “If you have a wombat with a lot of musculature around their hips, the approach can be a little more challenging.”